This invention concerns birth control and, more particularly, apparatus and methods for preventing fluid from passing between an oviduct and a uterus of a female reproductive system.
Prescription birth control drugs are expensive. As a result, many people rely on less expensive mechanical devices as a means for inhibiting conception. Nearly all mechanical birth control devices and techniques attempt to block fluid transfer between either the vagina and the uterus or the oviducts and the uterus. By preventing fluid transfer between the uterus and the vagina and/or the oviducts, conception is prevented or at least minimized. Although existing mechanical devices and techniques prove adequate, they are often unreliable and difficult to construct and install.
Thus, there is a need for a device for preventing conception that is easy to construct, easy to install, safe to use and that resists infection over extended periods of continuous use.
The above problems and others are at least partially solved and the above purposes and others realized in new and improved birth control apparatus comprising an insert positionable in a uterotubal junction between a uterine cavity and an oviduct. The insert has a first portion for promoting fibroblast ingrowth and a second portion having an anchor for securing the insert to the oviduct. The anchor or at least part of the second portion including the anchor is biodegradable.